Daria Pravilova: from Cape Town about coaching, blockages and the honesty of amateur racing

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Useful from the issue

1. In winter — OFP and gym

   Strength work for an amateur is the foundation: it adds to the sprint, strengthens the back for lifts and ligaments. At the same time, the bike is not abandoned, but its share is gradually increasing by the season.

2. Add other cyclic views

   Daria's athletes go to the pool, run, and ski in winter if they have many workouts. This maintains their aerobic base without the monotony of the trainer.

3. Take into account the group in the total volume

   If there is a large group training session during the week, it is worth reducing your own work. Otherwise, the volume accumulates and leads to overtraining.

4. Under the strong sun — long sleeves

   With a high UV index, Daria rides in a thin jersey with long sleeves and uses cream. This jersey protects from the sun, not warms.

5. In a large pack, stay close to your head

   In a nervous peloton, it's safer in front, and you catch the wind from the side and risk getting into a blockage. If you don't have enough strength to stay in your head, the risk of falling is growing — this should be taken into account when choosing a race.

6. Collect the evidence yourself

   In amateur races, controversial situations are rarely investigated by the organizers themselves. Recording from an action camera is the most reliable way to confirm a violation.

7. Compare yourself at a foreign race

   Daria advises you to go abroad at least sometimes: the amateur circle in Russia is small, and there you can honestly assess your level.

8. MTB and Cyclocross develop ownership

   According to Daria, those who race cross-country and MTB have better bike handling than pure road riders. Technique matters on the road too.

Cycling Cape Town

Daria went to Cape Town almost adventurously: it was cheaper to fly there from the Emirates than to return home. Before the trip, they were scared that it was dangerous in Africa and you could stay without a bike, but so far everything is going well. The cycling community there, according to her, is huge: hundreds of cyclists meet on the popular route along the ocean in the early morning, and group rides from shops gather more than a hundred people already at 5:45.

A separate local factor is the sun: the UV index reaches 12 during the day. Daria uses creams and goes to jersey with thin long sleeves — only here she realized why such a thing was needed at all. There are mountains around, but not protracted, as in Turkey, so the routes are suitable not only for strong riders.

From concrete track to coaching

Daria came to cycling at the age of nine: with her grandfather, for whom a bicycle was a transport, she stopped by to look at an open concrete track in St. Petersburg, met a coach there and started practicing in September. No one forced her — she also wanted to play football, but there was no one to take her to it.

After retiring from sports, she worked in fitness and, for the sake of interest, took up powerlifting: she completed a three-man event and stung 62.5 kg with her own weight up to 57 kg. She calls this experience traumatic: heavy loads always bring microtrauma. Education is pedagogical, in the RSPU named after Herzen: it is more about how to explain and teach than about the sport of higher achievements.

One of her first coaching directions is to teach adults and children to ride from scratch, she has been doing this for about ten years. In Turkey, she trained children in Russian-speaking communities, and now works with amateurs remotely.

What should a cyclist do in winter

Daria is a supporter of the OFP: for an amateur, the gym and strength work are a hard foundation. Strength training helps to add to the sprint, strengthen the back, which is so important in lifts, and ligaments. Her wards always go to the gym, some even to the pool, and with a large number of workouts, skiing and running are added.

At the same time, the bike does not need to be hung on the wall: the proportion is adjusted according to the number of workouts per week and the bicycle part is gradually increased by the season. She plans her workload in the summer taking into account the group workouts she conducts: if there is a big group workout ahead, she does less of her own training so as not to overtrain.

Highways, MTB and clubs

Professionally, Darya only raced road cycling. She was switched to MTB when her road team's funding ran out, and at first she didn't know how to approach such a bike. Cross-country for her is now an amateur pursuit, and she admits that the Russian level of technique is far behind the world's. Nevertheless, she came ninth at the Russian Professional Cross-Country Championship.

Outside of St. Petersburg, Daria plays for Serpentine, and in St. Petersburg, together with her partner, she revives the ETALON club. Last season they ran a road cycling school with group training several times a week for beginners and advanced, and in the new season there will be an ETALON Team. The plans include trips to races in Moscow and Novgorod, because there are few road starts in St. Petersburg.

Emirates race and men's peloton

Daria chose the Grand Fondo in the Emirates to compare herself with foreign amateurs: they awarded 20 places in each category, the entry fee was comparable to Russian races, but included a starter package, a lot of food outlets, blocked roads and lunch at the finish line. The group walked the first fifty kilometers with an average of about 50 km/ h, among the participants were riders of continental teams.

A woman in such a pack, according to Daria, rides like a side dish: to get into the head, where it is safe, there is not enough strength, you catch the wind from the side, and someone is constantly hitting the brakes around. She got into the rubble, but without serious injuries and with a whole bike, and I'm sure she could have made it. In women's races, she does not feel in danger: the girls drive more carefully, but here the participants behaved as if they had five lives.

Judging and drafting in amateur races

The level of amateur racing has noticeably increased, Darya believes: there are good broadcasts in Moscow, although women's races are almost never shown in them. The refereeing is lagging behind. At the last 'La Strada,' she and Olya Chudakova spent the entire race together in the breakaway with the support car, but the second place was given to someone other than Olya — apparently, the chip didn't work.

A separate topic is the delivery and drafting of foreign riders. Daria says bluntly: if you want to achieve justice, you will have to collect evidence yourself, preferably by recording on an action camera — no one will investigate at the first call. About a long-ago episode when a racer got hooked on their breakaway, she tells herself: then there was no ban, and it did not affect the result, and after scandals she would not have done so.

Favorite races, places and camps

The most epic road race for Daria is the mountain starts in Sochi: there is no snow from below, but fog, snow and a tunnel in which nothing is visible at the top. The best place for skiing is Austria, where she spent two weeks: there are buses that take her to the starting points of the routes with a bicycle, and drivers respect cyclists. The team went to Uzbekistan for races, but they were not allowed, and instead of starts, a rally in the mountains turned out.

In spring, ETALON for the first time holds a camp in Fethiye in Turkey — in late March and early April, with routes at different levels and hiking on weekends, and then the traditional camp in Sochi, which ends with the Three Mountains races. Ilya calls Daria to the Modder Cup, which in the new season will be combined with his cup and will be with stages in Novgorod and St. Petersburg, and on the 200-kilometer gravel. Finally, a tattoo on Daria's arm: you make your own destiny.

Timestamps

1. 00:03What's it like in Cape Town
2. 02:28Why did you go there
3. 04:27How I got into cycling
4. 05:59Powerlifting: how much do you press
5. 07:34What should a cyclist do in winter
6. 08:51Wards and training from scratch
7. 12:18Soviet Cycling School
8. 13:55Cross-country
9. 16:26Serpentine and ETALON
10. 19:12Race in the Emirates and fall
11. 25:08Amateur racing in Russia
12. 29:56Drafting and refereeing
13. 33:55The most epic races
14. 36:46Where did you manage to ride
15. 41:32ETALON camps and tattoo

Mentioned in this episode

ETALON · Serpentine · La Strada · Gran Fondo · Three Mountains · Modder Cup · Strava · Zwift